Monongalia EMS and the Granville Volunteer Fire Department have collaborated to create a Mon EMS substation at the Fire House in Osage, near the Blue Horizon Drive intersection. The substation on the western side of Monongalia County will benefit those communities by reducing the response time by up to 20 minutes.

The substation, which opened on Feb. 24, is the primary responder to calls in the Granville/Westover area, River Road, Fairmont Road to the County Line, Chaplin Road/Sugar Grove Road, Fort Martin Road to the State Line, Blue Horizon to the State Line, Rt. 100/Maidsville, Mason Dixon Highway to the County/State Line and I-79 to I-68.

The Granville substation houses an Advanced Life Support ambulance with a crew consisting of a Paramedic and an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). A crew is based in Granville 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Advanced Life Support ambulances are equipped to handle the more critically ill patients. The crews can start IVs (Intravenous Fluids) and administer medications, for example. All Mon EMS vehicles are capable of transmitting 12-lead EKG (electrocardiogram) to the local hospitals.

“We mapped the call volume and felt that one crew would be able to handle most calls originating from that end of the county,” said Linda Rudy, Executive Director of Mon EMS. “We will monitor our performance and call volume closely and can expand the service if necessary.”

If there is more than one call in the area covered by the Granville substation, the ambulance based at the substation will handle the first call. Ambulances will be dispatched from Mon EMS’s primary location on J.D. Anderson Drive in Morgantown to handle additional calls. Ambulances are dispatched by MECCA 911.

Another benefit of the Granville substation may occur during home West Virginia University football games. “Potentially, we could locate more ambulances and rescue vehicles in Granville and stage our emergency calls from the substation during football games, to avoid the heavy traffic congestion around the stadium,” she said. “That would also give us closer access to I-79 on game days.

“The Granville Volunteer Fire Department is pleased to be involved in a joint venture with Mon EMS,” said Granville VFD Chief Butch Renner. “We feel the partnership is a great opportunity to service the citizens of Monongalia County. The Granville Fire Department is pleased to be able to offer an area within our Fire House Event Center for EMS to house personnel and an ambulance.

“We are looking at creating additional substations in the future, likely with other volunteer fire stations,” said Darryl Duncan, President and CEO of Mon Health System. “The substations will enable us to have shorter response times and help integrate Mon EMS into the community. We want to let the community know that we are here for them and that we are constantly looking at opportunities to improve our services.”

Mon EMS has been serving Monongalia County since 1976 and has been an affiliate of Mon Health System since the early 1980s. Mon EMS handles between 850 and 1,100 calls per month comprised of emergency, non-emergency and rescue responses. The ambulance service is staffed by 26 paramedics and 25 EMTs.